Friday, January 07, 2011

Civil Liberties

It's been so many years since there was a government which improved on Civil Liberties in this country that I have to pinch myself when I think of what's happening now.  It's early days, and some promises are yet to be fully implemented but we have no more threat of ID cards, detention of child asylum seekers being ended, the awful DNA database being reduced, sentencing of criminals taking account of rehabilitation and restorative justice as well as punishment, and control orders being reformed.  There's a long way to go, not least in convincing people who've been told for over 12 years that the only way to be safe is to have more and more liberty taken away from innocent as well as guilty people. 
Nick Clegg's speech today made it clear that more is to be done but also how far we've come.  I'm still pinching myself.

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